Engineers who will be working on repairing Burton Bridge have issued a direct plea to motorists in the town in a bid to keep traffic moving where they can during the project.

It comes as they attended a second drop-in session about the major project when further details on urgent work to strengthen and safeguard one of the main routes into Burton have been revealed.

Drivers using diversion routes in and around the town during the part closure of the iconic bridge over the River Trent are being asked not to block junctions to enable traffic to flow freely.

The last drop-in session was held at Burton Library, ahead of the part closure of Burton Bridge which starts on Monday and is set to last 10 weeks until September.

If the work is not done there is the risk that a weight restriction might have to be imposed on the bridge in the future - and the bridge might have to eventually close, a top county councillor has said.

(Image: Amey)

Project engineers at national firm Amey, contractors carrying out the work on behalf of Staffordshire County Council, were on hand at the session to allay fears raised by members of the public and businesses.

Engineer Simon Richards said: "The most concerns people have are how they will move around Burton with the closure. Most people appreciate the roads are in poor condition and need work.

"We would urge people that if you are using junctions don't block islands if you overshoot as it can cause queuing."

These arches under Burton Bridge will be strengthened and changed (Image: Amey)

Traffic signal engineers will also be monitoring traffic flows on Monday, June 18 and Tuesday, June 19 and changing traffic light timings accordingly to match.

The work is part of a £6.1 million project to repair Burton Bridge and St Peter's Bridge from cash from the Department of Transport.

The St Peter's Bridge work was completed last year. The project caused huge tailbacks and at the time many businesses told how they were 'on their knees' as shoppers, fed up of delays, turned their back on the town.

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Mr Richards added: "We work with a more than competent traffic management company.

"And we learned our lesson from St Peter's Bridge and hopefully there will be procedures in place to keep traffic flowing around the town.

Mr Richards and fellow project engineer David Wyman have now given a detailed breakdown of the work which will take place and in what order.

The arch on the right of the photo will be rounded like the original arches (Image: Burton Mail)

Mr Richards said: "Three lanes will close from Monday, probably earlier than 7.30am.

"The traffic management company will be there from about midnight as it takes several hours to set everything up."

He explained that there will be three phases of work before the bridge reopens.

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It is expected that during the last week of work during phase two there will be night closures of all four lanes from 7.30pm to 6.30am to make way for the final layer of Tarmac.

The traffic lights at the Swan Junction will then be re-installed.

Phase three, taking around two weeks:

This will be simply filling in road markings.

Mr Richards said: "This work will make it waterproof below for the strengthening works to take place as there was still water getting through."

The road will then reopen to traffic.

However, strengthening works below the bridge will continue into early next year. Work to strengthen St Peter's Bridge, which reopened to traffic last November, is still continuing with another six weeks to go.

David Wymer explained exactly what will be strengthened and what we can expect to see.

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The modern version of Burton Bridge was built in 1865 and was then widened in the 1920s. From around the 1860s up until 60 years ago, a railway was built under part of the bridge close to the town centre. This track served the breweries.

Mr Wymer said: "This area of the bridge is weakened and is the bit that will need strengthening.

"The 1920s strengthening was not as strong as the original 1865 bridge."

A footpath has long-since replaced the railway. The arches over this footpath will be strengthened.

St Peter's Bridge

Work released by Amey shows ongoing work to St Peter's Bridge (Image: Amey)

Work is still continuing on St Peter's Bridge. Workers have jacked the bridge up to replace corroded brick bearings.

These bearings carry the weight of the bridge and enable it to move (expand and contract) with temperature.

They are being replaced with stainless steel which will have a shelf life of at least 25 years.